The View from the Water

I’ve stood on the pier at Huntington beach watching the surfers more than a dozen times. I usually don’t surf the pier because it’s too crowded. Yesterday there was no crowd because the surf wasn’t so great. It was a blown out choppy mess. So I decided to surf the pier.

Of course there’s a difference between watching from the pier and being in the water. It’s usually the difference between living and being alive. It’s easy to stand on the shore and criticize every little thing a surfer is doing wrong. But the view is different from the water. You see things you couldn’t see from the shore. Every detail is amplified.

You feel the power of the ocean

You confront fear head on

You see the shape of the waves

You see every intricate detail

You learn to time the waves

The sound of your board against the water is louder

And one thing so damn beautiful it brings you back to the water over and over again is the voice in your head loses its ability to speak. It becomes quiet. It finally shuts the hell up.

The view from the water is really different. So don’t be so quick to trust the advice of the person standing on shore who has never dipped their toes in uncertainty, adventure, and bliss that comes with standing on the edge.

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